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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Thursday, January 26, 2017
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ILOILO City – Vendors outside Jaro Plaza were given until yesterday to vacate the sidewalks or face demolition today.
They have no legal basis to do business on the sidewalks surrounding the plaza, stressed City Administrator Hernando Galvez.
“We wanted to know, too, who allowed them to occupy the sidewalks but they were silent. They did not name anyone,” Galvez said, referring to his meeting with the vendors on Tuesday.
The city government’s Task Force on Anti-Squatting and Illegal Structures (ASIS) has been ordered to spearhead the demolition today should there be vendors still occupying the sidewalks outside Jaro Plaza.
The vendors wanted to stay on the sidewalks until Feb. 5 or three more days after the Jaro fiesta on Feb. 2. They wrote Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog letters, mostly handwritten, appealing for compassion.
“Please allow us to recover our capital. Selling fruits is our sole livelihood to support our families,” read one letter written in Hiligaynon. It was from a fruit vendor.
Aside from fruit vendors, however, there were others selling other things on the sidewalks such as pots and iron stoves, curtains, t-shirts, decorative garden pots, bingka, marble furniture and decors, among others.
No, those sidewalk vendors must go, said Galvez yesterday.
The Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) of Jaro was instructed to find space for the sidewalk vendors inside Jaro Plaza.
“If there is still space for them inside the plaza, they should be accommodated there. If there isn’t space anymore, we can’t do anything about it. They must be removed from the sidewalks,” said Galvez.
The recommendation of various city government department heads was unanimous – the sidewalk vendors must be removed, he stressed, citing his meeting with the heads led by Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog yesterday at city hall.
“If they fail to vacate this day (yesterday, Jan. 25), we’ll be instructing Task Force ASIS to effect a demolition (today, Jan. 26),” Galvez said.
He urged the vendors to cooperate with the city government.
The mayor wanted the vendors to earn from the Jaro fiesta but their invasion of the sidewalks has become a hazard to passersby and even the riding public, said Galvez.
The removal of the vendors from the sidewalks outside Jaro Plaza was among the conditions the Sangguniang Panlungsod included in the memorandum of agreement (MOA) that the city government will be signing with ABC-Jaro for the annual Jaro Agro-Industrial and Charity Fair. Two of the conditions read:
• The Jaro Agro-Industrial and Charity Fair 2017 which is to be organized, managed and maintained by ABC-Jaro will be held only in designated areas in Jaro Plaza to be limited and determined by the City.
• The plaza will be temporarily closed, subject to the approval of the Sangguniang Panlungsod, but the association should refrain from utilizing the playground and alleys inside the plaza as venue of activities and in no case, should such activities impede, impair, or obstruct the continuous flow of vehicles traversing the surrounding roads of the plaza.
The city council also stopped the collection of the P10 entrance fee at the plaza.
Also prohibited was the sale of alcoholic drinks or beverages, ukay-ukay and establishment of karaoke sound system within Jaro Plaza.
In consonance with the national government’s thrust for a clean and healthy nation, the ABC of Jaro was also told to should strictly impose a gambling-free, smoke-free and illegal drug-free activity in the plaza./PN
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